Horse-collar



UNITED STATES PATENT OFF CE,

MARION S. FORT, OF GREENFIELD, IOW'A.

HORSE-COLLAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 294,218, dated February 26, 1884,

Application filed December 26, 1883. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MARION S. FORT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Greenfield, in thecounty of Adair andState of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Horse-Collars; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, and in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a horsecollar provided with my improved protecting plate or shield. Fig. 2 is a section of the same, and Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the plate or shield detached.

Sinnlar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

My invention has relation to protecting plates or shields for horse-collars; and it consists in the improved construction and combination of metallic plates or shields adapted to be secured upon the inner and outer sides of the lower portion of a horse-collar, protecting it against wear and strengthening it at its point of juncture, as hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, the letter A indicates the horse-collar, which may be of any desired construction, and B indicates a plate of malleable metal, decreasing in thick ness toward the edges 0, which are very thin and flexible, so as to yield to the shape of the collar as it is expanded or contracted, according to the pressure upon the same, and which plate is bent and curved to conform to the shape of the outer side of the lower portion of the collar, having a groove, D, corresponding to the groove in the collar formed between the fore and after Wale. A loop or strap, E, of metal, spans the groove or crease of the plate at the lowest point of the collar and plate, and serves to receive the hame-strap, which passes through the same. A plate or shield, F, of a shape similar to the shape of the outer plate, fits upon the inner side of the collar, and has two or more countersunk perforations, G, through which pass screws H, the outer ends of which fit in threaded perforations I in the outer plate, the screws passing through the collar in the crease between the fore and after wale, and the heads of jthe screws fitting into the countersunk perforations, the screws thus securing the two plates together. It will be seen that in this manner the collar is protected from wear at its lower end, where it is most exposed to wear from the shafts or pole and neck-yoke, as well as from wear from the ends of the hames, and the plates or shields and their connectingscrews will also strengthen the lower end of the collar, which is most exposed to be broken by being expanded when the collar is drawn over the head of the animal,-and at which point the covering of the collar is generally connected.

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States- 1. The combination of a protecting-plate for horse-collars, bent and curved to conform to the shape of the inner side of the lower portion of a collar, having thin flexible edges, a longitudinal corrugation, and countersunk perforations in the said corrugation, a protecting-plate bent and curved to conform to the shape of the outer side of the lower portion of a collar, having thin flexible edges, a longitudinal corrugation corresponding to the crease in the collar, and threaded perforations in the said corrugation, and threaded bolts resting wit-h their heads in the countersunk perforations in the inner plate, and fitting and turning with their threaded ends in the perforations in the outer plate, as and for the purpose shown and set forth.

2. The combination of a horse-collar with an inner plate having thin and flexible edges, bent and curved to conform to the shape of the inner side of the lower portion of the collar, having a longitudinal corrugation and countersunk perforations in the said corrugation, an outer plate having thin and flexi ble edges, bent and curved to conform to the shape of the outer side of the lower portion of the collar, having a longitudinal corrugation, and headed screw-bolts resting with their heads in the countersunk perforations in the inner plate, passing through the creased portion of the collar, and fitting and turning in the threaded perforations in the outer plate, as and for the purpose shown and set forth. I

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereunto affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

Witnesses: MARIONS. FORT.

W. L. FREEMAN, DANIEL A. HrrEs. 

